You searched for "airway"
Is the lack of sunshine the reason behind allergic rhinitis?
Deficiency in Vitamin D, an in vogue immunomodulator, has been shown in emerging data to have a substantial pathogenetic role in allergic related diseases, particularly asthma. The concept of a shared upper and lower airway has allowed the natural extrapolation...
Stem cells in nasal polyposis
Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is common and is multifactorial with increased T-helper 2 response and active role of interleukin 5. It can be associated with asthma and control of CRSwNP improves lower airway disease. Due to constant cellular...
Can laryngeal sensitivity testing predict aspiration and pneumonia in dysphagic patients?
The laryngeal adductor reflex (LAR) is characterised by brief vocal cord closure in response to laryngeal stimulation. It is important in swallowing physiology as it represents a mechanism for airway protection. The authors of this study examined whether the absence...
Grading dysphagia as a toxicity in treating head and neck cancer
Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) is a system used by clinicians to grade the toxicity of oncology treatments in a standardised manner. Dysphagia is perhaps the most common long-term toxicity of head and neck cancer treatment. Currently, a...
Assessment and management of dysphagia in the elderly
This article covers dysphagia in older patients, which is an important topic due to an ageing population, and a relatively common symptom that we see in clinic. Dysphagia could be due to presbyphagia secondary to changes in head and neck...
The hippo and the nose
Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) leads to histological changes including thickening of the basilar membrane and epithelial proliferation. Molecular mechanisms underlying these changes are still not fully clear. A signalling pathway called the hippo with Yes‐associated protein (YAP) as...
Hypoglossal nerve stimulation for OSA
Hypoglossal nerve stimulation has been lauded as the great new surgical treatment panacea for obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). This meta-analysis includes 12 studies with a total of 350 patients, including the five-year follow-up data from the STAR trial which was...
Risks of tracheostomy in head and neck cancer
Tracheostomy is associated with several complications, with rates quoted as high as 8-45%, including: bleeding; displacement; obstruction; surgical emphysema; pneumothorax; fistulae and failure to decannulate. There are now many studies that confirm the increased length of stay and complications of...
The effects of paediatric tracheostomy
Paediatric tracheostomy is usually an essential procedure to preserve life, or to allow a patient to function in the community. However, the effect of tracheostomy on the developing child - care requirements, lack of voice, impaired swallow, constant risk of...
RCT: tongue retaining devices vs CPAP for OSA
This study compared the effect of a tongue retaining device versus the use of CPAP in 27 patients within a crossover RCT design. Tongue retaining devices (also known as tongue stabilising devices), are similar in appearance to a plastic tongue-sized...
Are quinsies worth draining?
Recent data is providing accumulating evidence that treatment failure in the management of peritonsillar abscesses (PTAs, aka ‘quinsies’) is similar when these are managed with medical treatment (MT) alone versus MT plus surgical drainage (M+ST). However, in the absence of...
